ALLEGATIONS NOT SUFFICIENT TO SUPPORT SUMMARY JUDGMENT ON PLAINTIFF’S LABOR LAW 240(1) CAUSE OF ACTION STEMMING FROM A FALL FROM A LADDER.

The Second Department determined Supreme Court erred in granting plaintiff’s summary judgment motion on his Labor Law 240(1) cause of action stemming from a fall from a ladder. Plaintiff did not demonstrate the ladder was defective or unsecured. [The decision explains in detail the criteria for Labor Law 200 liability and several substantive indemnification issues which are not summarized here.]:

“To establish liability pursuant to Labor Law § 240(1), a plaintiff must demonstrate a violation of the statute and that such violation was a proximate cause of his or her injuries'” … . “A fall from a ladder, by itself, is not sufficient to impose liability under Labor Law § 240(1). There must be evidence that the subject ladder was defective or inadequately secured and that the defect, or the failure to secure the ladder, was a substantial factor in causing the plaintiff’s injuries” … .

Here, the plaintiff’s own submissions demonstrated the existence of triable issues of fact, inter alia, as to how the accident occurred, whether the ladder was inadequately secured, and whether the plaintiff’s actions were the sole proximate cause of the accident … . Shaughnessy v Huntington Hosp. Assn., 2017 NY Slip Op 01245, 2nd Dept 2-15-17

 

LABOR LAW-CONSTRUCTION LAW (LADDERS, ALLEGATIONS NOT SUFFICIENT TO SUPPORT PLAINTIFF’S SUMMARY JUDGMENT ON HIS LABOR LAW 240(1) CAUSE OF ACTION STEMMING FROM A FALL FROM A LADDER)/LADDERS (LABOR LAW-CONSTRUCTION LAW, ALLEGATIONS NOT SUFFICIENT TO SUPPORT PLAINTIFF’S SUMMARY JUDGMENT ON HIS LABOR LAW 240(1) CAUSE OF ACTION STEMMING FROM A FALL FROM A LADDER)